The Senior Retreat
by LaurylPixLira
Summary: It's senior year of highschool and time for the annual senior camping retreat! But if Sakura and Syaoran hate each other, how can they learn to work together? AU story with no cards! S+S/E+T!


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Summary: It's senior year of high school and time for the annual Senior Camping Retreat! But if Sakura and Syaoran hate each other, how can they learn to work together to survive in the wild? AU story with no cards! S+S/E+T!

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Disclaimer: I know this comes as a surprise to many of you, but we don't own CCS! But this story is all ours...enjoy and don't forget to review, please!

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By CronoCat (a.k.a. Lira) and Dr. Lauryl

Chapter One: The Trust Walk

Kinomoto Sakura was awakened by her alarm clock-late again! _Of all days to be late! _She thought, cursing silently. She couldn't miss the official announcement of the Senior Retreat. She hurried to get dressed and ran downstairs. There was no one else in the house because Sakura's father had left early for work and her mother had died when she was young. Her older brother, Toya, had moved out several years back. He was 24-years-old now, finishing up school, holding roughly ten jobs as always and living in an apartment with his best friend, Tsukishiro Yukito.

Sakura inhaled the breakfast her father had left her, grabbed her lunch and bag and skated out the door. At school, Sakura fell into her chair just as the bell rang. Her best friend, Daidouji Tomoyo, was busily doing homework.

"Tomoyo-you didn't finish your homework last night?!" Sakura gasped.

"Don't be silly! This is _tonight's_ homework," the ever-studious Tomoyo replied.

"Phwee?!"

"I would expect nothing less from _you_, Tomoyo," Hiiragazawa Eriol laughed.

Sakura was surprised to see Tomoyo blush at Eriol's comment. Eriol saw her surprise and winked at her.

Confused, Sakura turned to look around the room. Her friend Chiharu smiled as her boyfriend since fourth grade passed Sakura a note.

It read, "_Did you know that during the feudal period in Japan, it was considered rude to be on-time? Everyone came late-sometimes even days late! You might not know this, but it's true that--"_ Here Yamazaki's pencil made a long line down the page. It was clear Chiharu had taken it away from him and now she was glaring at his innocent smile.

"Ohayo gozaimasu!" The teacher called, entering the room.

"Ohayo!" Every said in unison.

"Now, as you all know, our senior retreat is tomorrow!"

An excited murmur rolled through the class.

"Meet up at the school tomorrow morning and bring _only_ the essentials!  
The teacher shouted over the class. "Now then, I know everyone got a list, but let me reiterate what the essentials are. Bring clean clothes, a swim suit, toiletries, a sleeping bag, a pillow and flashlights. Anything else will be confiscated! Understood?"

"Hai!" Everyone cried excitedly.

Because the next day was the trip, the senior class was allowed to do team-building activities all day. Things like leading someone around blindfolded and working in pairs to see who could pitch a tent the fastest were a welcome change from the normal school day.

Sakura and Tomoyo joined their other friends outside. Most of the popular kids were in their group, like Chiharu, Naoko, Rika, Yamazaki and Eriol.

The day was going fine until the teacher randomly picked the partners for the trust walk. Sakura hadn't expected the trust walk to be a big deal, but then, she hadn't counted on being paired up with her worst enemy: Li Syaoran.

The teacher came around and duct-taped mittens to some people's hands. The mittens, he explained, would keep people from being able to take off their blindfolds or from lifting them up to cheat. That way, everyone had to rely fully on their partners and no being mean. He looked at them all sternly. Sakura was one of the students chosen to have the mittens first and then she was blindfolded. She didn't trust Syaoran, but then, she didn't think he would try anything with the teacher watching.

He grabbed her roughly by the arm and led her into the middle of the soccer field. Sakura had no idea where she was, but she felt Li let go of her arm and stood still, nervously. "Li?"

When there was no answer and Sakura heard him walking away, she tried to take her blindfold off. No luck. "LI!" She screamed. "LI SYAORAN!! Get back here RIGHT NOW!" No answer. Inwardly, Sakura fumed--oh, he would pay!

Li was already back with his soccer friends-he was Captain of the team, after all.

"Where's Kinomoto-san?" One of his friends asked.

Li scowled. "I ditched her. I don't know _what _you see in that baka, Shimbo!"

Shimbo looked at the ground. "Well, she _is_ kind of cute..."

Li glared at him, then started laughing. When his two best friends, Shimbo and Hideki, turned around, they saw why. Kinomoto-san was limping towards them, her blindfold still on. Tomoyo ran over and untied the blindfold. The three friends heard Kinomoto-san say she had run in to the goalpost. This only made Li laugh harder.

To their surprise, Kinomoto-san walked over and smiled sweetly at Li. His two friends exchanged uneasy glances-it was well-known that these two had hated each other ever since Li had moved to Japan from Hong Kong sophomore year.

"Your turn," she said melodically and tied the blindfold on Li excruciatingly tight.

"Aagh! My eyes!"

Sakura laughed, "oops!"

Li just growled. And then the fun began. She grabbed his arm and took off running.

"Slow down!" Li yelled, cursing fate and the teacher.

"As you wish," Sakura replied and shoved him down a big hill. At the bottom, she pulled him to his feet and dragged him towards a nearby creek.

"Let go of me!" Li cried, trying to break free.

"Gee, Li-I'm _awfully_ sorry about that!" Sakura said innocently and then almost felt bad. She decided he had gotten what he deserved and told him honestly where to place his feet to cross the creek without getting wet.

"Why should I trust _you_, Kinomoto?" Li said, his voice dripping with contempt. He pulled away from her, lost his balance and tumbled into the creek with a splash. Sakura grabbed his gloved-hands to help him up, but Li tugged and she fell beside him in the water.

"LI!" Sakura cried angrily. "What was that for?"

"You did it to me," Li said shortly, getting to his feet.

"Not on purpose!" Sakura yelled and smacked him in the legs so that he fell down again.

Li didn't say anything, but made sure to kick a lot of water all over Sakura as he blindly climbed up the creek bank. Brushing the water out of her face, Sakura stood up. She hated Li Syaoran! He had gotten her completely soaked: her shoulder-length brown hair stuck to her face and her long uniform skirt clung to her legs. She had only one thing to be thankful for: at least Li was still blindfolded so that he couldn't see her white blouse, which was rapidly becoming transparent. She folded her arms across her chest and ran back to the group, leaving Li to find his own way.

Back at school, Tomoyo tried to comfort her best friend. "It's okay, Sakura. I have an dry shirt in my car you can change into. As a matter of fact," she went on, her face lighting up, "I just made it this weekend! I was hoping you would have time to try it on today."

For once, Sakura was grateful for her friend's obsessive sewing. But..."Why is he so mean? I just...I just get so mad! I really hate him, Tomoyo."

Tomoyo unlocked her car and gave Sakura the shirt. "I know you do," she sighed. She was getting tired of listening to Sakura complain about Li, but he always seemed to upset her every single school day. Tomoyo couldn't figure out why he was so mean, so she couldn't help her friend very much.

"Just ignore him."

"I can't!" Sakura wailed. "I was ignoring him all day today and then we got paired up! That wasn't my fault!"

"I know, I know..."

Sakura slipped the shirt on and sighed. "I guess you're going to say I shouldn't have pushed him down the hill," she said meekly.

Tomoyo laughed. "You didn't really! Oh Sakura...!" She shook her head.

Sakura began to laugh too. "It was pretty funny. I wish you could have seen it."

But Tomoyo had stopped listening. She had other things on her mind: "Oh, that is just _DARLING! _Sakura that shirt looks adorable on you! I might have a dry skirt in here, too..." She rummaged around in the trunk, but only found a pair of old jeans. She held them up, "this is the best I can do. Want them?"

Sakura shook her head. "School's over in a few minutes anyways. I'll just go home and change."

"Listen, I wouldn't worry about the retreat. There's going to be our whole senior class there. So you should be able to avoid Li," Tomoyo said, her mind going back to their earlier discussion. "Just hang out with me the whole time!"

"Hai!" Sakura said, her cheerful nature returning. 

That night, as she packed for the trip, she felt much better. Surely Tomoyo was right. She wouldn't even have to get within ten feet of Li Syaoran and she didn't plan to.

A/N: Just one last little note...for those of you who are following Clamp's newer series, Chobits--yes, the names of Syaoran's best friends did come from there. We don't own them. Please don't sue us!! . Please leave us a note: liked it? hated it? thought it was the best/worst thing you've ever read? Let us know!!! Thanx! ~LaurylPixLira


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